Tunisia: The Wages of Moderation

A war of sorts, over issues of a sort, was
being fought last week by two countries who were sort of friends the
day before hostilities. Tunisia and France, joined in the dubious
nostalgia of ex-colony and motherland, were firing at each other on
Tunisian soil and exchanging bitter charges in the august echo chamber
of the United Nations Security Council.

There was every sign that nobody was more astonished than Tunisian
President Habib Bourguiba at what he had touched off. True enough, he
had some provocation. After giving Tunisia independence in 1956,...